The 70-year-old was tasked with improving the game in this country, but when his 'Charter for Qulaity' was turned down by the FA the German's swooped in

Made in England: Wilkinson's plans were put into practice by the German FA 15 years ago

Howard Wilkinson says Germany won the World Cup thanks to HIS blueprint for success for England.

The 70-year-old, who took charge of the national team on a caretaker basis twice, was commissioned to put together a masterplan to get the national game back on track in this country at the end of the 1990s.

"The charter was chipped away at in England because of politics and not much of it was put in place," he told the Sun. "About a year later I met someone from the German FA and they looked at it with great interest."

Wilkinson also suggested he talked over his ideas at length with former Germany manager Jurgen Klinsmann.

But where England turned them down Germany took his plans and ran with them - and have gone to reap the rewards as Sunday's World Cup win shows.

"The German FA went on to implement a plan which was very similar to the charter and it totally transformed the way they developed young players," he added.